Post by smoreland on Feb 18, 2011 11:30:15 GMT -5
The boss (wife) finally gave me the green light to purchase one of these bad boys and I just got it in 2 days ago. Everything I have read about them in this forum is correct.
A couple of comments on hooking it up. The unit is powered from a 2 prong plug but the male end of the actual power cord I got was 3 prong. I had built an extension cord necessary to make the plug reach my APC power conditioner but based on what I read I made it for a 2 prong plug. Nothing that a trip to Lowe's didn't fix but frustrating because it took longer to hook up! Secondly, my unit came with a 6' trigger cord so don't waste your time running around looking for a mono 1/8" plug to use as a trigger.
Anyway, at lower listening levels everything I have read is pretty true. There is more clean sound across the entire sound spectrum. I appear to have picked up a little extra bass especially but not over-the-top amounts. It is like a thin sheet has been removed from in front of my speakers as someone else had noted. At higher listening levels the differences become much more apparent. When cranking it up I now have a "punch" to the sound that was not there before. My Denon AVR4308ci is no slouch for power when it comes to AV receivers, and it was always capable of getting loud, but it never seemed to have the impact that I am now getting with the XPA-5. I can also now drive the sound to INSANE levels that could make your ears bleed. Not that I would want to do that for any period of time but it is nice to know that I CAN!
The first piece I put in to listen to was my Pink Floyd DSOTM SACD. I am now hearing very low subtle drum beats in the background that I did not even know where there! It is like I have just gotten a completely new set of music to listen to. Last night we watched Monsters, Inc. on Blu-Ray and when the kid's screams make the lights in the movie flicker from too much power, my wife even looked over at me with the thumbs up. The sound was amazing. Looking forward to watching all of my movies again to get that whole new feeling watching them as well. I just have to figure out how to get the wife and kids out of the house to really crank it up!
I highly recommend this amp to someone who is looking to take the next step up from decent integrated stuff with decent speakers and make it all sing like it was meant to. ;D
A couple of comments on hooking it up. The unit is powered from a 2 prong plug but the male end of the actual power cord I got was 3 prong. I had built an extension cord necessary to make the plug reach my APC power conditioner but based on what I read I made it for a 2 prong plug. Nothing that a trip to Lowe's didn't fix but frustrating because it took longer to hook up! Secondly, my unit came with a 6' trigger cord so don't waste your time running around looking for a mono 1/8" plug to use as a trigger.
Anyway, at lower listening levels everything I have read is pretty true. There is more clean sound across the entire sound spectrum. I appear to have picked up a little extra bass especially but not over-the-top amounts. It is like a thin sheet has been removed from in front of my speakers as someone else had noted. At higher listening levels the differences become much more apparent. When cranking it up I now have a "punch" to the sound that was not there before. My Denon AVR4308ci is no slouch for power when it comes to AV receivers, and it was always capable of getting loud, but it never seemed to have the impact that I am now getting with the XPA-5. I can also now drive the sound to INSANE levels that could make your ears bleed. Not that I would want to do that for any period of time but it is nice to know that I CAN!
The first piece I put in to listen to was my Pink Floyd DSOTM SACD. I am now hearing very low subtle drum beats in the background that I did not even know where there! It is like I have just gotten a completely new set of music to listen to. Last night we watched Monsters, Inc. on Blu-Ray and when the kid's screams make the lights in the movie flicker from too much power, my wife even looked over at me with the thumbs up. The sound was amazing. Looking forward to watching all of my movies again to get that whole new feeling watching them as well. I just have to figure out how to get the wife and kids out of the house to really crank it up!
I highly recommend this amp to someone who is looking to take the next step up from decent integrated stuff with decent speakers and make it all sing like it was meant to. ;D
